


Agents of S.W.O.R.D.

by OnAWhim



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: LMDs, Outer Space, S.W.O.R.D., post-season 4 finale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2018-11-05 08:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 11,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11009265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnAWhim/pseuds/OnAWhim
Summary: Basically what I think could happen after the end of season 4 or:The Framework has been dismantled. AIDA is gone. But now our favorite agents of SHIELD must face the aftermath. With the government demanding answers, LMDs still out and about, and a whole new set of problems, there's no rest for the agents of SHIELD. What will become of them?Read and find out.





	1. The Prisoners' Dilemma

“Today, a special government taskforce apprehended a group of violent terrorists responsible for the deaths of over a dozen US soldiers and injury of countless others, including decorated General Glenn Talbot, who is still in a coma. The group is led by the terrorist known as Quake and has ties to HYDRA, which famously caused the explosions in DC not too long ago. The taskforce says that these dangerous individuals will be separated and taken to maximum security containment facilities across the country. The trial is set to begin in a few weeks. Now onto our weather update...”

~~~~~~~~~

“Coulson, I promise you, this is the middle ground.” Maria stood with her arms crossed. “You had to know that the government couldn’t let you escape punishment again.”

“I can’t ask my team to do this.” 

“There’s no other way out.”

Flexing his prosthetic hand, Coulson countered, “This is their- my- entire world. I can’t just give it up.”

“Once this goes to trial, who knows how many years they’ll have you all locked up for? People on the hill are talking about life.”

“ There has to be some other way. A secret base. One of Fury’s old ones- you must know.”

“Phil, this is the only thing I can do. Take some time to think it over.”

“What about my team?” 

“They’ll be given a choice, but I can’t tell them everything.”

“How long do I have to decide?”

“You’re being transported to a permanent containment facility in about six hours. I’ll be back before then.” With that, Maria Hill exited the room. 

~~~~~~~~~

“Oh, Agent Hill, thank goodness. I was beginning to worry no one was coming.”

“Agent Simmons, I don’t have time for pleasantries. You have a choice: remain in the hands of the US government and face the music or take the out I have lined up. It’s another underground agency doing work very similar to SHIELD, but I can’t give you any more details until you accept. You’d be undercover, living on base, and serving at the pleasure of that agency’s director.”

“What about Fitz? And the rest of the team?”

“They’ll be given the same choice.”

“Well, what choice is there, really?” Jemma paused, “I’ll take the out.”

“Very well. A team will retrieve you soon.”

Maria Hill left and Jemma was left with the empty, white room.”

~~~~~~~~~

“Maria? It hasn’t been six hours.” 

“The schedule was moved up. The others have already been moved or extricated.”

“Who decided to take the offer?”

“I’m can’t say, Phil, for their own safety.”

“It’s not everyone, then.”

Maria answered him with a blank stare.

Phil shrugged. “I know, I know. You can’t say.”

“Phil, your decision?”

“Beam me up, Scotty.”

~~~~~~~~~

Four armed men entered her small, white room. They wore the same uniform as those in the diner, but it was impossible for Jemma to tell whether they were the same men. She stood.

“Jemma Simmons, we are here to transport you to your next location. This will go easier if you cooperate.”

She nodded. 

“Extend your wrists out in front of you.”

She did, and then watched as one guard moved forward to lock them together in two adjoining hollow cylinders, obviously some new tech. The man then fastened a chain between her ankles, long enough so she could shuffle down a hallway, but short enough so as to prohibit any efficient movement. 

“You’ll be blindfolded and then we’ll be administering a tracker into your forearm. It may sting slightly.”

A heavy cloth was placed over her eyes and secured over here head. The white room was now an overwhelming darkness. It was the kind of darkness that you could tell didn’t come from emptiness, but rather the feeling of suffocating, of being surround by the physical presence of darkness. For a moment, she was back under the sea, but the sharp pain in her left arm brought her back. She grimaced from the tracker implantation as she felt a cool cloth over the injection, no doubt to sterilize it. She waited for them to tell her to walk forward, but the order never came. For minutes, it was silent. 

She tentatively called out, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

More silence. And she was feeling tired. So tired. Unnaturally so. The tracker- not a tracker. Or maybe a tracker with something else. Laced with a drug to- she struggled to maintain a coherent line of thought as the chemicals instructed her brain to sleep. The darkness from the blindfold in her eyes slipped into her mind as sleep overtook her.

~~~~~~~~~

“No.” 

Maria was surprised. So far, everyone had decided to take the out. “Are you sure? This is a one time offer.”

“I appreciate it, but I can’t. I need to do what’s right.”

She couldn’t imagine what that meant. “I’m sure they won’t be too hard on you.”

“The others are going, aren’t they?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“What happens next?”

“You forget that this offer was ever made. If it comes up, I’ll say it was an interrogation tactic. I have the paperwork to back it up.”

“I’m sorry, Agent Hill.”

“Me, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do you all think stayed behind? Think anyone else did?
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Welcome to S.W.O.R.D.

When she woke up, the darkness in front of her eyes was gone and so was the white room. Instead, she was in a small, plain room. Its walls were simple exposed metal. There were a couple small lights in the corner of the room, a bench, the small cot, and a couple panels on the walls. It almost looked like the interior of a ship, though she couldn’t feel any movement.

Sitting up, her feet touched the cool metal floor. At the foot of her bed, someone had lined up the shoes she was wearing. It was a strange but not altogether unkind gesture. She put them on.

Walking to the edge of the room, she placed her ear to the metal, hoping to hear conversation, an engine, or even ocean waves. There was a quiet, almost inaudible humming, but nothing else.

Suddenly, from the part of the room opposite her, she heard a soft hiss and the sound of something sliding. She whirled around to see that part of the wall was sliding away, revealing-

“Billy?”

“No, that’s my brother. Easy mistake, though. My name’s Jonathan, uh, but you can just call me John, or Agent Koenig.”

Shaking her head slightly, Jemma asked, “So is this SHIELD, then?”

“Nope!” John said in the cheerful voice that Jemma was familiar with from his brothers, “Welcome to S.W.O.R.D.!”

“Sword?” Inwardly, Jemma sighed. It wouldn’t be an agency related to SHIELD without a needlessly complicated acronym.

“Yeah, Sentient World Observation and Response Department. We’re responsible for dealing with offworld threats.”

“Are there many of those?”

John nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yeah! But a lot of what we do is just maintaining records and observation of sentient worlds. Everyone was so excited when they heard you’d be joining us. I mean, we’ve all read your work on the Chitauri virus. And your work on Inhumans- unprecedented, really!”

“So I’ll be doing lab work in the sciences division, then?”

“Mostly, but you’re field trained. And you’ve got experience surviving on exoplanets unaided, so the operations division has its eyes on you, too. Plus, at SWORD, agents are encouraged to be multi-disciplinary; you’ll get to do a bit of everything.”

“Will I be working with the other SHIELD agents who were on my team? I have a lab partner- Leo Fitz- and your higher ups will probably want us working together in the lab.”

“Woah, woah. You might get to work with them, but first those of you who decided to come have to get through orientation and training. Then, you’ll be assigned divisions.”

“People decided not to come? Who?”

“Classified.”

“But-“

“Sorry, Agent Simmons. Once you get through orientation, I can tell you more. I’ll be back soon with some lunch and protocol books for you to start reading.”

~~~~~~~~~

Maria Hill watched as the reporter showed video of Coulson’s team being escorted into the senate chambers for questioning. They were under heavy guard, with Daisy inside a mobile containment module. She turned on the sound.

“This morning began the questioning for the trial that is now being called Quakegate. Stay tuned for exclusive clips of the questioning:

‘Please state your name and occupation within HYDRA.’

‘Melinda May. I was a pilot and special operations agent in SHIELD.’”  
The reporter interrupted, “And as we have seen from previous investigations, SHIELD is another name for HYDRA, an organization which originally formed in the 1900s when-“

Maria clicked the next clip on the newsite: Quakegate Scientists Testify. Fitz’s face filled the screen. He looked tired.

“‘General Talbot was shot in the head by a Life Model Decoy that I created, alone. The Life Model Decoy was created to stand in as a duplicate for Agent Daisy Johnson in field operations. It did not have her Inhuman abilities, which is why the LMD did not use that in the conflict at SHIELD’s base. I do not know what the cause for the LMD’s defective behavior, but I can only guess that it is a mistake in the AI programming. I take full responsibility for the actions.’”

The video switched over to a newscaster trying to analyze Fitz’s statement.

“I mean, what you have to ask yourself is whether this guy is covering up for that Inhuman or if we’re really going to believe he was able to create a robot that looks exactly like another agent down to the smallest detail. Even the fingerprints! And then you have this other scientist contradicting him: let’s take a look.”

The video switched to a senator questioning Simmons:

“‘Miss Simmons, in your expert opinion, is Mister Fitz capable of designing such an LMD?’

‘No, he was assisted by a man named Holden Radcliffe.’

‘And where is Holden Radcliffe.’

‘His remains are in the ocean. He was incinerated in the oil rig explosion after being mortally wounded by the first LMD, AIDA.’”

The newscaster returned, “I have to wonder if these people might just be suffering from mass delusion. I mean, their work is a dangerous and stress-inducing business. And the man behind it all just happens to be incinerated at the bottom of the ocean-“

Maria closed out of the window. No matter that she knew that many of the faces she saw on the screen were just LMDs of her friends, she still worried for them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd love love love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment! :)


	3. Previous Extraterrestrial Experience

After his briefing with Agent Koenig, Coulson was escorted down a plain hallway and into an elevator. John Koenig had told him that he was being granted a higher clearance than the rest of the SHIELD agents who had come since he was the director. It also meant they wanted him to evaluate his team members. John led him into an elevator. After a few moments and a little bit more hallway, they entered yet another room with metal walls. This one, though, was clearly a conference room. 

On one side of the table sat a tall woman with straight brown hair. Upon his entrance, she stood and said, “Phil Coulson, allow me to introduce myself: Agent Andrea Qan. I’ll be overseeing your team’s transition to SWORD.”

“Nice to meet you. This is quite the base you’ve got. Where exactly are we? And where’s my team?”

“I know you have a lot of questions, but have a seat and I’ll tell you what I can. I know you’re used to being in charge, but we have our own protocols here at SWORD.” She smiled.

Coulson took the seat she had indicated and waited for her to resume speaking.

She poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table and continued. “The rest of your team are in monitored quarters throughout the ship. We’re beginning them with basic training and will be evaluating their abilities so as to figure out where they can best be integrated into SWORD’s ranks. We usually don’t take SHIELD’s hand-me-downs, but Maria Hill convinced us to make an exception for you. We’re very excited about your team, but we need insight on their risks and assets beyond their SHIELD files. So let’s just begin.”

“Begin?”

She took out a small device and put it on the table. “This is just an audio recorder.” She pushed a small button. “Tell us about Agent Melinda May.”

“Agent May is one of our best pilots and hand to hand combat agents. Incredibly resourceful. Quiet. Great sense of humor.” He paused and looked up to see if that too casual for this type of report, but Agent Qan only nodded at him to continue. “She can fight with or without guns. I’m sure there’s more in her file.”

Agent Qan asked, “Any history with aliens?”

“Well, our entire team has dealt with aliens quite a bit. We’ve all met a few Asgardians: Elliot Randalph, Lady Sif, and Lorelei. I’ve met Thor and Loki- well, Loki actually killed me, so…”

“We have files on them, so no need to elaborate.” Agent Qan said. 

“We’ve had some interactions with Kree: Vin-Tak and G.H. Plus, countless Inhumans. Oh, and we’ve dealt with relics from the Chitauri, Kree, and Aesir.”

“Agent May has a particular history with Inhumans, though, correct?”

“Bahrain. I take it you have it in your files?”

Agent Qan nodded. “Tell me about Agent Johnson.”

“Well, she’s Inhuman, causes earthquakes and all that. Brilliant hacker. A little reckless, but she fights for what she believes in. Same history with aliens, basically.”

“Alright, and next up we have Agent Mackenzie and Agent Rodriguez. We have pretty thorough files on them and they’re not primary assets, so just tell me if they have any additional alien interactions.

“Nope, just the standard extraterrestrial experiences.”

“And, finally, Agent Simmons?”

“Finally?”

“We’ll address that in a moment.”

“Agent Simmons is a brilliant biochemist, medic, and scientist. She’s capable of significant field work and undercover work. Good leadership skills.” He paused. “She has a lot of extraterrestrial experience. I guess it started with her contracting a virus from a Chitauri helmet from the Battle of New York. She found a vaccine, but only at the last second. She jumped out of the plane to try and protect the rest of the team. Then there was the Monolith, which sent her to Maveth, where she survived alone for months.”

Agent Qan said, “Agent Simmons is the asset we’re most excited for, largely because of her previous experience, but we’re concerned because, as you may have inferred, Agent Fitz elected to stay on Earth. We know they work very closely and we’re not sure if, when, or how to tell Agent Simmons so that she can work most productively in his absence.”

“She won’t take it well. They’re best friends, and lately more than that. They’ve been through a lot.”

“They’ve been separated before.”

“Neither one is at their best without the other. But they’re both brilliant; even when they’re not at their best, they’re better than most.”

“How do we tell her?”

“There’s no good way to tell her. But she should be told, not find out on her own. You can’t wait too long or she’ll work it out herself and never trust you again.”

“I see. Well, I’ve have my Strategic Personnel Management Division get to work on that straight away. We’ll let you know if we need any more information. In the meantime, Agent Koenig will escort you back to your room and you can start your training.”


	4. Studying Space

Training, it turned out, was anything except basic. To start, there were the history courses. She learned that SWORD had originally started as a division of SHIELD, but became an independent agency when the scope of extraterrestrial threats grew too large for a single division’s budget. Like Professor Vaughn’s lectures at SciTech, these video lectures were great for putting one to sleep. The whole training course was designed similar to SHIELD’s academy curricula and it made Jemma miss Fitz. At least in the Academy, they had had each other to motivate their studies. 

Then, there was the science training. So far, Jemma was working on testing out of the many astronomy and astrophysics courses. Though her background was biochemistry, she had take a fair number of other courses in the natural sciences. She tried to imagine May or Coulson going through the astrophysics sections and chuckled a bit. Fitz, she knew, would be racing through it; he’d taken much more physics than her.

Over the next couple weeks, she had learned SWORD’s celestial navigation, a grounding in their technological capabilities, the Alien Classification and Threat Schema (ACTS), the basic biological structure for major identified alien species, rudimentary planetary science and geology, SWORD’s report format, organization logistics, and much, much more. To be fair, she had done little else for the two weeks. 

She comforted herself with the knowledge that Fitz would no doubt be racing through the material, too, because once they had finished, they’d be reunited. 

She passed her comprehensive final exam with flying colors. That day for lunch, Agent Koenig returned.

“Agent Simmons, congratulations on finishing your basic training! This is the fastest anyone has gotten through it.” 

He carried with him two sandwiches and juice pouches. The food was simple but nutritious. Jemma knew from her training that the juice pouches were a habit leftover from when SWORD operated in microgravity. The courses hadn’t expounded on what had allowed SWORD to finally control the station’s gravity, but based on the timeline and the scope of the ship, called The Peak, Jemma suspected that gravitonium was being used. She’d have to ask about that; it was a fascinating but dangerous material and she was curious if Dr. Hall himself had ever worked with SWORD. 

“Thank you, Agent Koenig.” 

She walked to the panel on the wall and opened up her window so she could see the cosmic landscape. She remembered in the first when she had first been taught to use the panel to open the viewing window. It had taken her breath away.

“We’ll be queuing some more focused advanced courses into your computer so we can get you fully prepared to be placed within a division.” 

“And when will I know about the others?”

“They still need to finish training. It could be a while for some of them. Not everyone has the grounding in science that you do.”

Jemma sighed. Ever since she had found out that not everyone had decided to come to SWORD, she couldn’t help but wonder who could possibly have made such a decision. Perhaps Yo Yo? Or Mack? But it didn’t really make sense to her why anyone would choose that. 

“Do you know what’s happening on Earth?”

“Yes, but I can’t say anything. SWORD policy. We’re here to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial threats. Start following the news and new recruits tend to want to save the Earth from itself; that’s SHIELD’s job.”

Jemma was frusturated with this lack of information. She rather liked knowing things. However, she was still a new recruit and she couldn’t fully blame SWORD for behaving like the secret agency that it was. She’d have to climb the ranks before she got many real answers, probably.

“So,” she said, “when do I get my first assignment?”

“Tomorrow morning. I’ll be here to escort you to a lab space at eight hundred hours. You’ll have background reading sent to your computer after dinner. In the meantime, relax, peruse the library.”

“Alright, thanks.”

While SWORD cut agents off from Earth news, they didn’t skimp on providing Earth entertainment. Nothing from the last few years, so as to minimize references to culture and current events, but nearly any other book, movie, music, art, or play could be found in Sword’s digital library. Jemma had taken to watching old Dr. Who episodes in the afternoons. It reminded her of all the times she had watched these same episodes with Fitz. 

Soon, she thought. She’d see him soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you've enjoyed reading! It may be a bit longer until my next update as summer work is picking up this week. Please leave a comment!


	5. A Way Out

“Mister Fitz, there’s someone here to see you.”

“I thought this maximum security prison didn’t allow visitors.”

“This is no ordinary visitor.”

Standing up from his cot, Leo looked through the window of his door to see a man dressed in a well-cut suit. He even wore a pocket square. The door opposite the hallway outside his cell locked and the door to his room unlocked, allowing the man inside. It worked rather like an airlock, a thought which amused Fitz.

Sitting in the desk chair, the man spoke, “Leo, my name is Dr. Marco Frugh. I’m here to ask for your assistance with developing some projects for the Special Defense Force. We have a contract with a company whose work could greatly benefit from a mind like yours.”

“No.”

“Well, I haven’t yet gotten to what’s in it for you. Good behavior such as this could be grounds for early release. After all, 60 years is a rather long time.”

“No thank you.”

“We prepared for the possibility you would not wish to participate. Tell me, can you really sit here for sixty years, letting your mind be confined to this room, missing out on the scientific advances of decades to come?”

He said nothing, so Dr. Frugh continued.

“Leo, if you even make it out of here, all of your knowledge will be obsolete. You will torture your mind with no outlet for its ideas. You may feel guilty now, but will you feel the same in twenty years when the rest of your team is released?”

“Are the others getting the same offer?”

“You mean Jemma Simmons, no?” At Leo’s look of confusion, he said, “I know you’ve been requesting to speak with her.”

“Fine,” Leo said, “same question.”

“She’s not the one who designed killer robots.”

“Then no deal.”

“Mr. Fitz, you want to speak with her, correct?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I am going to leave now, but tomorrow I will return for your decision. If you make the right choice, I will arrange for you to have a brief phone conversation with Ms. Simmons.”

~~~~~~~~~

Pouring over the papers she had been sent, Jemma had to admit that she couldn’t help be a bit excited for her first assignment. She had been given a half dozen internal memos written like scientific papers describing work that had been done to understand Asgardian biology. One was a theoretical evolution analysis based on the environmental factors that SWORD had collected. Another was on DNA sequencing from Thor and a partial sequence from Lady Sif. This was the kind of cutting edge research that she had dreamed about as a child, reading sci-fi novels by flashlight after her bedtime. 

Besides the excitement, Jemma had hope. Based on her reading, this would be a lab assignment, which meant there was a chance- however slight- that she would see Fitz in the morning. She tried not to think about it too much, for fear of being sorely disappointed in the morning, but she couldn’t help it.

~~~~~~~~~

“Will she do it?”

“There’s no guarantee, Agent Qan, but all of our algorithms and the Strategic Personnel Management Division’s psych eval on Agent Simmons indicates she’d cooperate.”

“Hmm.” Agent Qan was hopeful that the integration of SWORD’s new acquisitions would go smoothly. In truth, SWORD had been considering approaching Agent Simmons with an offer for some time, but had not yet found the opportunity to do so. The universe was a busy place. “Convince me.”

“Well, past performance is an apt prediction of future behavior and this past year, when Agent Simmons was separated from her team under SHIELD’s newest director, Jeffery Mace, she cooperated with him specifically to gain influence within the new bureaucracy. And for positive motivation, this research would be something that directly applies to her biochemistry background while being one of the most highly coveted assignments at SWORD.”

“Can she be trusted with an assignment so critical to the expansion of SWORD’s operations?”

“Ma’am, she survived on a barren planet for months.”

“Yes, yes. I’m well aware of her celebrity status within SWORD.”

“There’s no one else better suited. It has to be her.”

“Very well, send me your report and I’ll decide in the morning.”

Agent Qan sighed. They shouldn’t have given Leo Fitz the chance to choose to stay. He could ruin everything. It was up to Jemma, now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summer work has kept me incredibly busy, so I'm sorry for the delay in updates. I hope to be posting more regularly now that I've finished moving. 
> 
> I'd absolutely love to know what you think of the story so far, so please please please leave a comment!


	6. Boxed In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter now that I have some more time to write! Hope you enjoy! :)

Agent Koenig presented the small but well supplied lab space to her with his usual enthusiasm, which was a bit overwhelming at seven in the morning. “So, this is Agent Jerome. He’s working on space weather prevention. You’ll be sharing a lab cube with him and I’ve asked him to show you the ropes today.”

“Hello.” She said plainly, trying to hide her disappointment that he wasn’t Fitz.

Looking up from his coding and running a hand through his somewhat messy dark brown hair, the agent in question swiveled his chair to face Jemma, “Hey, welcome! It’s good to finally meet you. The lab has been abuzz for weeks about you coming.”

“Oh,” she said, “well it’s nice to meet you as well.”

Agent Koenig left a folder in front of the chair that was apparently hers and made for the doorway. “Have a good first day, Agent Simmons, and don’t hesitate to ask someone if you need help.”

“Thanks.”

With Agent Koenig’s absence, an awkward silence fell over the small but well-lit room. Luckily, Agent Jerome broke it, “So these clear walls are all whiteboard surfaces.” He gestured to her desk, next. “And here’s your computer of course. This drawer has all your basic sample organization stuff- slides, labels, vials, you know. There’s a centrifuge and microscope room just down the hall. Basic office supplies are in this middle drawer. And then this filing cabinet is all yours and locks, in case you’re working on a project above my clearance level. And yeah, that’s basically the whole cube.”

Jemma smiled, taking her seat, “Well thank you, Agent Jerome,”

“Oh, call me Dillon. After all, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

“Alright, then call me Jemma, I suppose.” It would be strange to go by her first name again. She was so used to Simmons that Jemma sounded strange when she said it aloud. “And I must ask, why would SWORD pair up a biochemist and a space physicist?”

“Oh, well I think that’s just a matter of efficiency. Everyone knows that biochemists need the most lab space and, well, all my work is on my computer.”

Jemma was skeptical of that explanation, but she let it go. “So you mostly do coding? I must confess, I’m not terribly familiar with space weather, though I did once meet someone working on geomagnetic storm effects.”

“Yeah, most of my work is modeling. I use a lot of the predictive code written by the scientists down at the Space Weather Prediction Center and then model how that might be in play when it comes to other suns that SWORD monitors.”

“That sounds fascinating.”

“It’s pretty fun. Anyways, that blue folder on your desk usually means an assignment, so I’ll stop distracting you. And if you need anything, just ask.”

“Thank you.” Jemma turned her chair towards her new desk and opened the folder and read her first assignment:  
**  
SWORD Assignment Code 244568  
Agent Jemma Simmons  
Clearance Level Eta**

**Topic: Computational and Experimental Terrigenesis in Aesir Biology**

**Description: The effects of Terrigenesis are well documented in humans, but due to astropolitical circumstances, it is unknown what, if any effect Terrigen has on Aesir. Using biochemical modeling, develop a rigorous set of predictions of the effects on Aesir biology from the DNA sequencing of Sample Ae1\d. Then, conduct physical experiments on the following tissue specimens: Samples Ae1\t, Ae2\t, Ae3\t, and Ae4\t.**

**Progress Reports sent to Agent Qan.  
**  
As she had many times before, Jemma felt the rush of a new challenge. All at once she wanted to begin modeling the DNA sequence no doubt on the attached thumb drive while stopping to fully scope out what others had published in the literature. She knew from experience that a mix of both reading and diving right in worked well for her.

She was a bit surprised by the clearance level of the assignment. She remembered admiring the fact that SWORD indexed its clearance levels with the Greek alphabet in basic training and she had memorized the Greek alphabet long before her days at the Academy. Eta was the seventh letter, which seemed to be a fairly high level for a brand new agent.

Popping the flash drive into her computer, she set to work.

~~~~~~~~~

Approximately five hours later, Jemma shrieked and jumped out of her chair.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!” Dillon held up his hands in a peaceful and apologetic gesture. “It’s just I’d asked you if you were ready to go check out the mess hall a few times and you didn’t hear, so I figured I’d just tap you on the shoulder.”

Sitting back down, Jemma chuckled nervously, “Of course, sorry. I must have been too focused on my research to hear you. It’s incredible! I’ve dreamed of doing this kind of work my whole career.”

“What are you working on?”

“It’s a fascinating bit of biochemistry- actually, I’m sorry, but I haven’t asked you: what clearance level are you?”

“Ah, so you’re one of those new recruits who actually read the protocol rules. Good for you. My last cubemate was constantly getting infractions for the stupidest violations. I’m clearance level delta.”

“Oh, well then I’m afraid my story ends there.” She shrugged. She hadn’t expected her first assignment to be above Dillon’s level. She was the one who was new.

“Got it. No worries. My clearance level is pretty low because I only really deal with the astrophysics of extrasolar worlds and their suns. Plus, I have to talk a lot with the ground-based scientists, so I’m deemed an unnecessary risk for most extraterrestrial biological info.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” She followed him down the hallway and into an elevator.

“Still, congrats. They don’t usually put new agents on higher level projects.”

“Thanks.”

The elevator doors opened and they walked down the hallway towards the hubbub of people talking and eating. Dillon gestured widely towards the large room. “Ta da! The mess hall! Food options are on the flatscreens. Just pick whatever you want. There’s vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, the works. But just be warned, you have to swipe in and you’ll get a notice if you’re not getting enough nutrition. Oh and you’ve got to try the salad station, they’ve got-“

“Excuse me, Dillon, sorry, but I actually see one of my old team members over there, so…” She was trying not to be rude, but she couldn’t miss this opportunity to find out what was going on.

“Right, of course, sorry. Should have asked if you wanted to eat lunch with me. My bad.”

Ugh, she had hurt his feelings. This was not the way to start a first day. “No, it’s nothing like that. I just haven’t seen him in weeks. Tell you what, how about I make it up to you at dinner tonight? You can help me navigate the pasta station I’ve heard so much about. And I’d love to hear more about your work.”

“Sure.”

He still looked slightly offended, but Jemma would have to fix that later. “Awesome, I’ll see you back at the cube in a bit, then.”

“Yeah, yeah, go on and hang out with your friends. I should have known the famous Jemma Simmons would be too cool to hang with me.” He said, but he was smiling, so Jemma took that as her cue to disappear into the crowd towards the lunch tables.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And, if you have a moment to spare, leave a comment below. They make my day. :)
> 
> Thanks,  
> OnAWhim


	7. Food for Thought

“Coulson!” She hurried across the cafeteria towards where Coulson was sitting.

“Jemma, it’s good to see you.” He gestured to the seat across from him. “You didn’t get lunch.” 

“I wanted to be sure I made it over here before you finished.”

“Well go get some food and I’ll wait.” He chuckled, “Reminds me of when you were undercover at HYDRA.”

Jemma left to get her food, but couldn’t help being a bit put off by Coulson’s casual demeanor. There had to be a reason. Were they being watched?

It was a foolish question. This was a secret agency. Of course they’d have surveillance. Either they had ways of keeping Coulson quiet or he was in the dark as she was. 

Returning to the table, Jemma asked, “Where’s everyone else?”

“I don’t know. You’re the first I’ve seen from the team. They said you all would be in training for a while. Not surprised you finished first.”

“What do they have you doing?”

“Oh, I’m still finishing my training. But, since I was the director, I guess I got let out early. They had me looking over the team’s personnel files. Hey, maybe if they don’t give you too much work you can give me a hand-” He paused to lift up his robotic hand. A classic Coulson pun. “-with the astrophysics stuff.”

She smiled, “I’d be glad to. Though I’m not sure if they’ve given me free time.”

He nodded. “What do they have you doing?”

“Lab work, for now. Clearance level Eta.”

“Above my paygrade.”

“Sir, I know you may not be able to say, but who stayed behind? What’s happening on Earth?”

“I don’t- I can’t say, Jemma.” 

Jemma hadn’t missed the fleeting look of conflict that flashed over his face. He wasn’t telling her something. 

“Ok.”

They spent the rest of lunch discussing mundane things at SWORD or talking about the last few months at SHIELD. 

As she was clearing her tray off, Coulson asked, “Jemma, are you doing ok?”

“Of course.”

“You know what I mean.”

“He’ll finish training soon enough.” 

“Well, if you ever need to talk, in the meantime.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”

~~~~~~~~~

As far as dinner company went, she could have done worse than Dillon. He was welcoming and knowledgeable. After months of time spent running for her life, it was nice to just talk science again. He was regaling her with a story about a geomagnetic storm that SWORD had diverted several years ago.

“Crazy to imagine what would have happened without SWORD’s satellites.” He finished. 

“Yeah.”

“You seem distracted. I mean, to be fair solar storms aren’t the most fascinating topic, but still.”

“Apologies, my thoughts are just a bit preoccupied with worrying about the rest of my team.” 

“Ah, that sucks.”

She nodded. Once again a slightly awkward silence fell over them.

“How are you liking space so far?”

“It’s incredible. When I was younger, I remember dreaming of going to space one day.”

“This isn’t your first rodeo, though, I hear.”

“Well, Maveth- the planet I was on- wasn’t exactly space. This is.”

“I can’t even imagine getting stranded on anoth planet. Especially one as barren as that. I remember when they put it in the agency newsletter. I think it was the only time most people read it.” He laughed.

“I must confess I feel a bit like Harry Potter just finding out he’s famous in the wizarding world. I had no idea SWORD existed, much less that everyone here would know who I was.”

“I know SWORD’s overwhelming at first and the protocols feel like they fit right into the cold icy darkness of space, but it’s a pretty cool community once you figure it out. The science is top notch.”

“The science here is incredible. And the ship itself. Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask: how is SWORD keeping this place up and out of sight?”

“Well the out of sight thing is easy. Same type of cloaking technology SHIELD uses on its Quinjets. Not sure about the other part. Isn’t it just in a stable orbit?”

“Something this large? Without gyroscoping structures? I don’t think so. They’d need to find some way to counteract the Earth’s gravity. With all the detail the training went to about the hull strength and structure, I was shocked that they said nothing about the thing keeping us from crashing into the Earth.”

He shrugged. “Not really something I’ve thought about, I guess.”

“Well, care to show me the dessert station I’ve heard so much about?”

“Absolutely.”


	8. Conversations with Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usually I wait until I have the next chapter written to post another, but since you've all been waiting so long, here's one I've had for a little while. The next one is drafted, but it will be a bit before I'll have time to write it out fully. Thanks for sticking with this story. Hope you enjoy! :)

It was just so he could talk to Jemma. If they let him out early, he didn’t have to do anything. He could find a flat in the Scottish countryside and serve out the rest of his sentence on his own if he really wanted, staying out of the nasty business of AIs and androids. This really was the best way to keep his options open. 

I’m rationalizing, he thought. 

He wouldn’t even consider it if not for the chance to talk to Jemma, to apologize for her being locked up as well. And also just to hear her voice, to know she was alright. If they were letting him talk to her, it meant that either she hadn’t gotten the offer Fitz had or that she’d stayed. The only reason he could think for her to do such a thing would be if she had stayed because she knew he’d stay. The least he could do was thank her.

He wasn’t thinking straight. He usually went to sleep much earlier. He only had a few more hours to decide, though.

~~~~~~~~~

Exactly one day since he left, Dr. Frugh returned to visit Fitz. 

“So? You have reached a decision?”

“What kind of work will- would- I be doing?”

“You’d be given a variety of assignments, ranging from verifying calculations made by our other scientists to creative assignments where you’d create original designs.”

“I won’t do anything with AI or humanoid robotics.”

“That is fine for now. If it comes up, we can discuss it then.”

“Alright.”

Dr. Frugh pulled a plain phone from his jacket, typed a series of passwords, and handed it over to Fitz. It was ringing. Dr. Frugh smiled in a manner Fitz could only describe as unsettling and said, “I decided to do you one better than a phone call. I was able to convince them to give you a video call, but only for a few minutes.”

The screen came to life and she was there. Her face, the same as always if not a little tired. Less tired than other days with SHIELD. Her hair was somewhat longer again, but not so long that she’d tied it back. 

“Jemma?”

“Fitz! It’s so good to hear from you! But I don’t understand, why are they letting us talk now? I’ve been asking for weeks and they’ve given me no indication that they’d ever allow it.”

“They want me to work on some things for them.”

“Of course.”

A pause.

“You’re going to do it?”

He sighed. “I think so.”

“You’ll be magnificent, Fitz. And maybe along the way you’ll stop blaming yourself for what happened.”

“But I’m to blame.”

“No, Fitz, you’re not. You couldn’t have known.”

“I should have.”

“You’ve always been too hard on yourself. You can’t know everything, remember, no matter how much you’d like to.”

“I cannot believe I just heard Jemma, the world’s- no, the universe’s- most notorious perfectionist say those words.”

“Oh come now, we’ve all had to grow up since the Academy.”

“I miss you, Jems.”

“I miss you, too, Fitz.” 

Dr. Frugh held up his wrist and tapped his watch. Right. Time to say goodbye.

“They’re making me hang up now. But Jemma, we’ll see each other again.” He didn’t add the word soon. There was no telling how long it’d be.

“Of course we will. We’re the best friends in the universe and more than that. The universe wouldn’t dare keep us apart for good. It’s tried before.”

He nodded.

She smiled.

“Do good, Fitz.” It was an old joke of theirs, not to say ‘do well.’

“You, too, Jems.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Dr. Frugh took pressed a button to end the call. 

“Thank you, Dr. Fitz. You’ll be receiving your first assignment shortly.”

~~~~~~~~~

Hundreds of miles above the Earth’s surface, the real Jemma Simmons slept on.


	9. Past, Present, and Future

The memo for the meeting showed up on her screen a few minutes after she had settled into her cubicle. Over the past few weeks, she had come to develop a routine: wake up, run on the treadmill, shower, make two cups of tea, go to her cubical and wait for Dillon to show up with a couple parfaits from the mess hall. Setting her tea down, she abandoned it to find her way to room 4176. 

She opened the door to find a small office, undecorated except for a small succulent in a plain white pot. The whole place was quite austere. 

“Hello, Agent Simmons. It’s good to finally meet you. I’m Agent Qan.”

“Hello, it’s good to meet you.” She shook the hand extended to her.

“I want to talk to you about an assignment that my superiors feel you are uniquely qualified for. However, I’d like to stress that it will ultimately be your decision to pursue it.”

Agent Qan clicked a button on her keyboard and the screen on the wall lit up with a photo of Maveth, one Jemma had taken. She inhaled sharply before remembering to control the tsunami of emotions that she thought would have gotten better by now.

“SWORD wants to develop a strategic outpost on Maveth. We’ve had our scientists working on creating a portal and we’ve successfully sent expeditionary crews to ensure it’s working properly. However, we need someone who is familiar with astrobiochemistry and the planet itself to go along with the set up team. You’ll be involved in choosing the location of the base camp, analyzing samples brought back by expeditionary teams, and maintaining communication with working groups. You’d be overseeing the scientists and advising the captain.”

Jemma heard the words, but they went through her. She couldn’t process that this was happening. Maveth was behind her. They wanted her to go back?

“I understand this is a lot to take in, Agent Simmons. We wouldn’t ask this of you if we thought there was significant risk involved. After all, the creature from Maveth came to Earth and was destroyed by one Lincoln Campbell. It’s just a barren wasteland now. We can make it more. Having a scientific and strategic outpost in that corner of the universe is invaluable to SWORD.”

Jemma focused on her breathing. _In. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven eight, nine, ten. Hold. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Out. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven eight, nine, ten. Repeat._

“You’ll have the support of SWORD- rations, sun lamps, professional staff, shelters. I’ll let you think now.”

Jemma was aware of the lack of a clock in the room. Agent Qan was waiting patiently. Was she going to wait there until Jemma gave an answer? Or was she just waiting for her to say something?

“I don’t know.” She said, trying to keep her voice level.

“Is there anything you’d like to know to help you decide?”

“How long do I have to decide?”

“The team can start preparations as late as two weeks from now, but the sooner the better. Anything else?”

“Yeah, why should I? Sure, it would help SWORD, but why should I care about that? You’ve kept me up here without letting me even know what’s happening on Earth. You’ve isolated me from my friends, my- from Fitz. You keep me busy with interesting yet theoretical biochemistry projects. And you’ve given me no hope that it’s going to get better.” She was half shouting, half crying by the end of her tirade.

Agent Qan adopted a soft, stern tone. “Agent Simmons, I know this has been difficult for you, but SWORD rescued you from life imprisonment. You chose to come here. I cannot break SWORD protocol simply to please your every wish. What we do works. You do not have to take this mission, but you are the best for the task. And besides, I thought it might be something from your past you’d like to overcome.” She paused.

“Please. Just tell me when I’ll get to see Fitz again.”

Agent Qan frowned. “I had hoped this conversation would not come to this, but it is unavoidable now. When I finish speaking, you are free to leave to your quarters. You will not be expected at work for a few days, but you are welcome to go. If you wish to talk to a professional about anything, you should recall from your training that SWORD has many highly qualified psychologists on staff.”

Jemma, for all her brilliance, could guess what came next. But it didn’t stop her from hoping she was wrong for once. 

“Agent Fitz chose to remain on Earth.”


	10. Time and Space

Jemma had not intended to go to work the next morning. But if there was one way she knew how to cope with losing Fitz, it was figuring out how to get him back.

She let out a bitter laugh to herself as she made her tea. It was such a terrible thing to have so much experience with, losing someone. How had they lost each other so many times?

She could guess why he stayed. He was no doubt punishing himself for his roll in the framework. He had to have known she would have taken the offer to leave. How could have chosen to stay, knowing it would mean separation from her. It her more than she was ready to admit to herself. 

Sitting at her desk, she tried to focus on any of the projects SWORD had assigned to her. Her thoughts kept wandering, or rather meandering in circles, trying to come to terms with the absence of Fitz. She tried to tell herself it was the same as yesterday, before she had known. They were still the same distance apart. Somehow it seemed farther now. Suddenly, it occurred to her: there was nothing SWORD had to keep her working on these projects today. Getting to see Fitz had been the only carrot she had cared about, and she was hardly afraid of what their sticks would be. She did a quick search to find Coulson’s office and left her desk. 

Coulson looked surprised when she walked in. 

“Simmons, I wasn’t expecting you today. Are you alright?”

She glanced at her reflection in the glass wall of his office. Her eyes did look a bit bloodshot and her eyes sullen from a lack of sleep. She hadn’t noticed before.

“Did you know?”

He looked uncomfortable. “Know what?”

“Did you know that Fitz decided to stay?” She could feel tears threatening to well up in her eyes again even if she didn’t know precisely why.

“They told me just after I arrived.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

“I wasn’t allowed to.”

“Or what?” Her voice was higher pitched than usual, she noted. 

“They have incentives for me just like they have you. I’ve only gotten to see a couple of the others. They’ve really only let me talk to you.”

“And that’s only because they think you’ll keep me in line with their goals.” She shook her head. SWORD’s higher ups were using them all like chess pieces. “Well they don’t have incentives for me anymore.”

“Simmons, whatever you’re thinking wait until you’ve had time to process it. We both read about the intergalactic legislature that applies to us now. If you break SWORD’s rules, they’re not sending you to a prison on Earth. Those containment facilities…”

“What’s the difference between one metal box and another? If you think this is any better-“ She stopped and took a breath. “This isn’t why I came here.”  
She stood and walked around the desk to Coulson. “I think I really just needed a hug from an old friend.”

Coulson stood and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, patting her back as she put her head on his shoulder, shedding some tears for good measure. Deftly, Jemma tucked a small piece of paper with temporary ink into Coulson’s sleeve. 

It read: I know SWORD is listening, so we can’t plan now. With all this scientific equipment, there has to be a way to get into contact with Fitz, and maybe even to escape. I’ll need help. Can I count on you?

Their embrace ended and Jemma dabbed her eyes with her sleeve. 

“Coulson, thank you. I’ll see you at lunch.” She hoped he’d find a place to read the message before then.

~~~~~~~~~

The transfer from a maximum security government prison to the labs of some contractor was surprisingly drama free. Whoever had recruited them obviously had friends in high places. There was a lot of paperwork, fingerprinting, handcuffs, transport in the back of secure vehicles, and sedatives so he wouldn’t know how long he’d been traveling. In the end, Fitz was in a modest apartment with restricted internet for research purposes only, books by request, and a windowless lab space. Artificial sunlight marked the passing of time, but the start of his workday could be the middle of the night wherever he was. It was unnerving not to know when or where he was, but he tried not to let it disturb him. This was for Jemma. 

The lab work was boring. He suspected they were testing him with menial projects before they let him do anything of consequence. It gave him time to think. He decided to play along with their tests. It would give him access to more resources. Perhaps he could find a way to contact Jemma again. 

His thoughts were not only practical. He kept thinking back to his brief conversation with Jemma. She had stayed on Earth. He assumed she had received the same offer as he had. Why hadn’t she taken the out? There was no reason… unless she had guessed he would stay. She did know him better than anyone. Even Daisy often remarked how they seemed to be psychically linked, though of course that was nonsense. If only there was a way to make it reality. Though he supposed that hallucinating her all that time ago was close enough to talking with her in his head. He had resolved not to slip so much into his own head again. He had to stay focused. Jemma was out there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter! If you liked it (or if you didn't), please let me know. Comments make my day! :)


	11. Moving Pieces Into Place

“Coulson,” Jemma started, “about earlier…”

“Yes, Simmons, of course.” He gave her a significant look. “But you need to be careful.”

The conversation would have to all be in double meanings. It was the kind of communication that worked best with Fitz, but Coulson had known her long enough for it to work, she supposed. “I know what I need to do.” she said, “I’m going to agree to go to Maveth. There are more resources there for me to figure things out.” She wanted to let SWORD think she was going for her own personal development. Being vague was the key.

“Are you sure you’ll be ok? You have to do what’s best for you.”

He had understood. Good. “I think it will be good for me to get out of this floating metal box for a while, and away from all the bustle. SWORD is rather crowded compared to having the lab at SHIELD.”

“Will you be able to keep in touch?”

“I don’t know. I hope so. I’ll talk to Agent Qan.”

“Be safe, Simmons.”

“No promise. You know how field work is.”

~~~~~~~~~

A knock on his office door.

A nameless lackey shuffled in with a pile of papers. 

“New assignment from the higher ups.” said the man.

Fitz sighed. “Thanks, I guess. I’m still not allowed to ask your name?”

“Sorry, it’s security protocol.”

Shaking his head, Fitz took the papers from the guy. “I’m just going call you paperboy then. Need something to call you if we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.” Paperboy was one of the few people that Fitz interacted with these days. There was a weekly grocery delivery to his apartment done by paperboy and intermittent assignments handed down from up on high. Other than that, he occasionally saw medical staff for a monthly check up and gave sporadic presentations in windowless meeting rooms full of important-looking people.

“My boss says that all the info you need is in there and that you should start right away, prioritize it over your current projects.”

“You got it. And paperboy?” 

The guy turned from the doorway. “Yeah?”

“Think next week’s groceries can include some Doctor Who DVDs?”

“I’ll ask. No promises.”

With that, the boy left. Fitz thought back to his SHIELD training. If they brought him the DVDs, it would go a ways towards Fitz figuring out how much he was valuable at this company, how much leverage he had. He wracked his brain, trying to place the boy’s accent. It was subtle, but it was there. He imagined he was somewhere remote, but then again, he wasn’t really all that dangerous, so they might be keeping him anywhere in the world. He guessed that he was still in the US, considering the company was contracting with the US government, but that was all he knew.

The pile of papers he’d been handed contained a briefing of the project and a authorization key to input to his computer to access the relevant data and specs. They’d given him yet another project with little hope for getting information about where Jemma was being held. He had been tasked with designing a probe to take samples from fast-moving asteroids in order to quickly determine if they had valuable mineral resources.

Sure, it was interesting on a scientific level, but Fitz was growing tired of all the assignments clearly designed with an eye for profit and little else. When would he get access to government data? Then he’d have a real hope of finding Simmons. 

~~~~~~~~~

May didn’t mind the isolation that SWORD forced upon her. She didn’t bother inquiring about the rest of her team. To do so would give the impression that they could be used as leverage for her. She completed whatever tasks Agent Qan assigned her: mostly simple retrieval ops made interesting only because they took place in space and on other worlds. She missed the days when aliens were just science fiction. They’d taken over a fair bit of her life for something that virtually no one thought existed until a few years ago.

SWORD had taken to assigning her on missions with Mack. They let him see Elena quite frequently, but he was still unhappy and grieving from the Framework. Agent Qan had remarked on one occasion to May that she was “a good stabilizing presence for Agent Mackenzie.” Whatever that meant. Regardless the reason, she was glad for a familiar face.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she stepped through the doorway to her daily briefing with Agent Qan.

“Agent May, good to see you.”

“Same time as always.”

“Well I have some news. My higher ups feel you’ve proven yourself enough that they want you to get involved with a long term case they’ve been working regarding issues on Earth. You can move into the restricted access section of the ship today. We have to keep knowledge of Earthside happenings securely quarantined.”

“I thought SWORD left Earth alone.”

“Well, as you might imagine, there’s some gray area.”

“I’ll get my things moved over before lunch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a filler chapter, but it's necessary for what's coming next. Enjoy! Things really start moving after this chapter. ;)


	12. Moving Into Maveth

She wasn’t sure what she expected. A shuttle or a starship maybe, but she never expected to simply travel through technology remarkably similar to the monolith. It seemed more refined, but the overall concept was the same. 

It was strange to be leaving SWORD. These past few months it had become- well, not a home, certainly, but it was what she was used to. Stepping through the gateway to Maveth, she tried to feel something other than dread. So much was the same. Darkness. That unforgiving blue desert. But on the crest of a small hill, now, was a rudimentary structure. It looked something like the early field camps for missions in the polar regions in the 1900s. 

There were other SWORD agents with her, of course, but she hadn’t been paying them any attention. One of them put a hand on her shoulder and Jemma realized she had been frozen still just beyond the gateway, letting the gray sands of Maveth fly through her hair. 

“I’m coming.” She said, finally. 

Walking up the hill, she could see the base camp was not much larger than it had appeared at a distance. There was a small room for each of them: herself, the two tactical agents, and one other SWORD generalist. In addition, there was a small lab space, kitchen, and living room. The space was well-illuminated, which Jemma was grateful for. She went to her room to unpack.

Transferring her folded sweaters from her duffle bag to the drawers took very little time. Jemma sat on her bed. What had she been thinking? How could she get to Fitz from here? Sure, she’d be out from under SWORD’s constant surveillance, but was there to work with on this barren planet?

Bright flashes interrupted her thoughts. It reminded her of the fire alarm in her college dorm. That was so long ago. The tablet affixed to the wall explained: “Dust Storm Incoming: All Personnel to Main Living Quadrant.” Grabbing a book and a mug for tea from her duffle bag, Jemma made her way to the main space. She was the last to arrive. The others were chatting, seemingly excited about such an exotic field assignment. Maybe they could be resources. She had never seen them around before. She knew, though, that SWORD was isolating her by way of everyone else’s anonymity. 

As she took the remaining chair, the conversation died down. They had been talking about her. 

“So,” she said, “first dust storm on an alien planet for you all?”

One of the tactical agents spoke up after glancing around at the others. “Yeah, you’ve had one before?”

“Oh yes, there were many while I was stranded here last time.”

“What was it like?”

Jemma hesitated. The other woman spoke again, “Sorry, I don’t know if we’re supposed to not ask you about it. If you’d rather not talk about it, that’s fine.”

Jemma smiled. So SWORD had left them in the dark, too. “Well, the dust storms themselves weren’t too terrible, it was what came with it, which is something I’d rather not discuss.” 

The other tactical agent spoke, “Well, we’d better follow protocol and report the storm back to SWORD HQ.”

“There are transmitters all the way back to SWORD?” questioned Jemma, “The size of the relay satellites must be huge. How could they even build something of that scale for a project like this?”

“Easy. They didn’t. Our signal bounces to Earth first so we can use the large land-based dishes to receive our signal.”

“What about the time delay? We must be hundreds of lightyears away.”

“Ah, well that’s some SWORD tech that’s only disclosed to the highest clearance levels.” 

“It seems like a lot of SWORD tech is classified.”

“Yeah, as a tactician, I get it: compartmentalization of information to minimize risks. But, I was trained as an engineer, so I can’t help be curious.”

Jemma smiled at that. “I’ve been wondering how they even maintain a stable orbit for a ship that size so close to Earth. I’m no physicist, but I did some back of the envelope calculations and it should be impossible.”

The conversation continued in that vein until the dust storm subsided and they could return to their rooms for bed. For the first time in months, Jemma had a smile on her face as she drifted off to sleep. There was a way to talk to Earth. Now she just had to figure out how to stretch that into a way to talk to Fitz.


	13. Swords and Shields

Fitz sipped his tea as an old Dr. Who episode played on his computer. Life at this lab wasn’t as bad now that they had brought proper tea and entertainment. None of the new episodes, but hey, he was supposed to be in a federal prison; he could live with having a limited tv selection. 

The projects were still rubbish. They had him on a deep space dark energy project now that he had finished the asteroid project in record time. He wasn’t happy, especially considering he hadn’t been able to make any progress on trying to find Jemma, but he was content, at least for now. 

He let his code continue to compile, already knowing it would need many alterations before it was ready to properly look for deep space energy signatures. He wondered what day it was. He had tried to find out on several occasions, claiming he needed it to calibrate some astronomical elements of his simulations, but that had been denied. He estimated that it had been a couple months since he had started at the lab and perhaps a little over a month before that in the prison. Still, he wasn’t sure enough to confidently estimate what day it was. 

Deciding to leave those rather depressing thoughts be for a while, he turned his mind back to Jemma, as he did most evenings. He still couldn’t fathom why she had stayed on Earth. Perhaps she hadn’t been offered the same deal as him. But, it just didn’t make sense. Why would someone want to save him from federal prison, but not Jemma? He never should have built AIDA. He’d never know anymore if someone wanted him for that work or everything he had accomplished prior. 

~~~~~~~~~

“Agent May, we’re glad you could make it. I’m Agent Robins”

Melinda looked around the meeting room. Mostly older agents, stony faced, some wearing tac gear. She took the open seat clearly meant for her.

“Alright, so for those of you just coming onboard,” he nodded at May and a few others, “I’ll get you up to speed. Advanced Idea Mechanics is a group we’ve been monitoring for some time, but the case recently got upgraded. They’ve had a number of projects that cross into SWORD’s domain of operation, but to be honest, they never were successful enough to warrant any action.”

“But now they’re succeeding?” May asked. 

He answered, “Yes, quickly and surprisingly well.”

“What changed?”

“We have no idea. The most likely scenario is that they brought someone in, or they’re working with another group.”

“So what’s the plan? Undercover operatives in their organization? Tailing their people?”

Agent Robins chuckled. “That be standard for SHIELD, Agent May, but here at SWORD we take a cleaner approach to Earthside affairs. We can’t have any long term presence on Earth threatens the exposure of SWORD. No, we’ll continue remote observations and then send in a one-time strike force. Rather like a sword, if you will. You’ve been brought in because we believe your skills would be valuable for the strike.”

“What are the details of the operation?”

“Well, there isn’t much to go off of. The strike force will be greatly outnumbered in the target’s base with limited knowledge of the facility. Lethal force is a requirement of the mission.”

“I’m sorry, but who’s the target? Don’t tell me that you don’t know.”

He held up his hands in a gesture that seemed to say, ‘What can ya do?’ and then said, “We know it’s someone in the New York office.”

“So are we conducting interrogations? And then eliminating the threat? That’s hardly a defensible setup in a hostile base.”

“Agent May, I forget how strongly you SHIELD agents cling to your idealism. We’re realistic at SWORD. The threats we defend Earth from are beyond the scale of comprehension. We can’t put on kid gloves to deal with Earthside problems. It’s too messy and we simply can’t devote the resources there. No, you and the rest of the strike force go in and you eliminate all personnel at that base.”

Inwardly, May was aghast. This was SWORD’s idea of a clean operation? As an agent of SHIELD, she knew that lethal force was a part of the job description, but there was an understanding that agents were there, first and foremost, to shield people from harm. SWORD clearly had no such prerogative. 

“Agent May, do I need to remind you that you serve at the pleasure of the Commander?”

“No, sir.” She swallowed her thoughts and said, “I look forward to getting the mission specs from your office soon.”


	14. Anomaly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter, but I wanted to give you all something new to read for Christmas. Working on the next couple chapters now, so hopefully those will be up soon.

Fitz wasn’t sure why he picked the particular region of space for testing his code. Perhaps it was nostalgia (though he couldn’t imagine being nostalgic for that place). He and Jemma hadn’t even determined the celestial coordinates of Maveth until after they had returned. Still, as if the planet wanted to add one last insult, his dark energy readings were completely unreasonable. 

Turning to a different portion of the sky, he discovered that the error was not in his coding but truly an anomaly from the region of space containing Maveth. The readings were too high and too well defined. It almost seemed to have a structure like an irregular pulsing and he couldn’t think of a single astronomical object that would produce such a measurement. While the structure had a pattern, there didn’t seem to be much information in it. Rather, it seemed to be carrying something else, perhaps tied with non-dark energy and radiation. 

He wrote his findings into a summary along with a request to access instrumentation necessary to examine the signals received from the region of space across a wide range of energies. 

And then there was nothing to do. Well, to be fair, there were things he could work on, but none of them were important enough to overtake his lethargy. He wished he had the distraction of cooking his own food, having to wash dishes, or any other usual chores, but that was done for him- the perks of being a prisoner. 

He sighed and leaned back against his desk chair. How much longer did they expect him to do this? Project after project, with no creativity, no initiative. They couldn’t expect his morale to persist forever. Sure, they’d given him old Dr.Who episodes and some soccer games from several years ago, but that hardly could motivate him much longer.

He had no leads on a way out. No communication with the outside, no way to tell anyone where he was, if there was even anyone left to tell.

He doubted the rest of his team was faring much better. 

~~~~~~~~~

Life on Maveth was not easy. 

It didn’t compare to the time she had spent on the planet on her own, but this mission brought new nightmares. Maintaining their equipment was critical and the daily inspections of the water recycling unit, capacitors, generators, and other vital components of their base quickly became tedious. The dust storms were frequent and so they spent a great deal of time stuck together in the same room for hours on end. Jemma had taken to keeping a notebook in the common area so that she might write or work on research during the storms. She understood the protocol, but still- people could only spend so much time together before they grew to annoy one another. 

Or perhaps not. She didn’t fully understand why, but she had never really made an effort to get to know the other agents and they were all clearly scared of her. How important was she to SWORD, after all? She spoke to them only for assigned tasks and practical matters, like setting up the cooking schedule. At first, the room had quieted whenever she entered, but now they took her silence and seeming disinterest for granted and simply continued their conversations as if she wasn’t there. 

But she was always listening.

“So, I told him that it was me or Hawaii and he picked Hawaii.” 

Laughter. This lockdown, they’d been telling stories from SWORD’s version of the academy. It wasn’t really helpful to Jemma’s personal mission to learn more about how to talk to Fitz. Not surprisingly, the technical intricacies of interstellar communication were not the go-to topic of discussion in leisure time. But she would change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are awesome and you know where to leave them ;)


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